At issue, LGBTQ-centric Gays Against Guns organized and held a memorial rally at Stonewall Inn to simultaneously remember the 49 people killed at Pulse while calling for more robust gun regulations to reduce and eventually end mass gun violence.

Gays Against Guns Pulse Memorial Rally at the Stonewall Inn

In the event’s invitation, the memorial rally was described as “…a solemn and joyfully defiant experience as we remember the tragedy that brought the fight for gun violence prevention directly into our LGBTQ nightlife community.”

The event itself – much like evolving pride parades-turned-resist marches nationwide – demonstrates a change in the way the LGBTQ community engages with the rest of the nation regarding their rights, their lives, and their safety. Suffice to say, even memorials are now becoming occasions to fight back against a regime that refuses to acknowledge the need for – let alone discuss – sensible gun regulations.

(Those in the LGBTQ community who were around at the height of the AIDS crisis can attest to the fact that this is not the first time memorials for LGBTQ people have taken on an explicit resistance-themed political tone.) That said…

Cue former Out writer and homocon Chadwick Moore to insert his opinion on the memorial and its political tone in a discussion with Fox’s Tucker Carlson.

“Well, yesterday was the one year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre, in which Islamic radical Omar Mateen murdered 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida,” Tucker Carlson said. “To commemorate the shoot a vigil was held in New York City outside the Stonewall Inn, site of a 60s gay rights demonstration. But instead of just remembering the victim, the vigil became an anti-gun rally.”

He added, “Journalist Chadwick Moore was there at the vigil and he joins us now to tell us what happened next. So Chadwick, this was supposed to be a vigil for the people who die, almost 50 who died in that massacre, but it became something else?”

“That’s right. I think most people showed up, the Stonewall is sort of gay, it’s a gay holy site, right. It’s the equivalent of Mecca for Muslims,” Moore began. “It’s where everyone goes when there’s a large event that has affected the community, whether that’s tragic or celebratory. It’s where people would have instinctively shown up to commemorate the one-year anniversary.”

“What happened was is this far left anti-gun group essentially got the permit, I’m assuming, to hold a rally that day, outside, yesterday outside of Stonewall,” he continued. “They were the sponsors of this event. So people who were coming to mourn, who were coming to be together to reflect, who wanted to give politics a break instead were being subjected to this sort of anti-gun propaganda, all of these signs, all of this anti-Trumpism.”

Later, he added, “Most gay people aren’t political. Most gay people, you know, they care about pop music and going to the beach. They probably don’t know what the Second Amendment is. And so they show up to be together, to celebrate the community, to mourn together and instead they are fed this anti-gun nonsense.”

To listen to the way Moore and Carlson portrayed the event, Gays Against Guns “tricked’ mourning non-political LGBTQ people into attending an anti-gun rally disguised as a vigil. In reality, nearly 1,500 people RSVP’ed to the event on Facebook knowing what it would be, and approximately three thousand attended and stayed even if they found out after the fact that it was organized by a group aimed at passing sensible gun regulations.

These people were not ‘bamboozled’; they came, they mourned, and they resisted, just as LGBTQ people and their allies across the nation are doing throughout the month of June.

But Moore’s broader point also misses the mark. He paints the LGBTQ community as a group of people disconnected from the horrors of the current administration. His broad strokes accuse LGBTQ people of going to the beach and listening to music at clubs rather than knowing or understanding their constitutional civil rights. For being an LGBTQ writer, Moore doesn’t seem to be able to take an accurate pulse of his own community.

Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time he’s worn several hats including leading on campus LGBT advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.